Birr v Ballyboden - Leinster club SHC

[turk]

Surprised there was no mention of this.
This match was the provincial final last year, played in a gale, and a veritable game of two halves. How much have Birr in the tank? Last season they reached the club final where as Ballyboden's interest was ended by Birr. In that match they complained of bad decisions at the end, in particular complained about a 65 they reckon they should have received which would have tied it up for them. It's a tough one to call. Birr have had a fierce doggedness about them

Prices
Ballyboden 11-8
Birr 4-6
Draw 17-2

[bracknaghboy]

Hope I'm wrong but I have a feeling Birr are running out of lives at this stage. This'll be tight tomorrow and I wouldn't be surprised if Birr are beaten.

[theman]

Bracknagh still cant tell time....the match was today! Birr won easily

[bracknaghboy]

[Kemo Sabe]

didnt see the game yesterday but heard that birr were very impressive . well done birr good win and best of luck for the rest ot the year be great to see sid win at least another leinster in what will surely be his lastyear .

[Efan]

I was at the game on Saturday and the first half performance by Birr was as good as I have seen them hurl in years. Their passing, use of the ball and option taking were excellent on almost every occasion and the ten point half time lead more or less killed the game. Sid picked up what looked like a bad enough knee injury at the very end of the first half and that seemed to take a certain amount of cohesion from the forward line as he had been throwing the ball around well. Barry did an excellent man marking job on Durkin the Ballyboden player who was probably their MOTM in the county final. Paul Cleary was solid at 6 and in the first half espically Dylan was also excellent. Ballyboden would have seriously fancied themselves after coming so close last year and their fall off this year was partly their own poor performance but mainly an uplift in Birrs form that was somewhat unexpected. Tullamore next Sunday against St Martins. If Birr can produce a similar hurling display they will take a bit of beating ..... if they produce a similar display ...

[Rynaghs Biffo]

Was at it myself too, and very very impressed with this Birr team. First of all, this was a massive step up from the County Final. Now, Ballyboden were very poor it must be said, they waster an awful lot of ball, we're very slow in picking up their men and had a sense of cockiness about them.

The passing, ball to hand was excellent, especially in the midfield and half forward line, and the finishing was clinical. Dylan Hayden picked some great scores and Gary Hanniffy contributed well. I like the way they took their points well when there was a sniff of a goal chance. If they continued this performance, they'd really put it to Ballyhale, honestly.

Sid's injury looked pretty bad, he badly jarred his knee I think, as for Simon, got a bad gash on the head, I reckon will be back in action for the next day.

Also, even with a 2:30 throw in, the floodlights had to come on full blast at half time, wonder if Birr ever played a big game under lights, they handled fairly well anyway!!

[Bord na Mona man]

Birr send out a message

LEINSTRER SHC QUARTER-FINAL
Birr 1-17 Ballyboden St Enda's 0-8 :
BIRR SENT out a rather defiant message as they came away from Parnell Park with a convincing 12-point victory over the Dublin champions on Saturday.

The effects of a tough campaign seemed to tell on a Ballyboden team who, having run Birr so close in last year's provincial final, were still at the starting blocks by the time Birr had this game wrapped up. And although opposing managers Pad Joe Whelehan and Liam Hogan briefly squared up to each other midway through the first half, the talking was done on the pitch as the Leinster champions put their opponents to the sword in a breathtaking first-half display.

They were led by left-half forward Simon Whelehan who shot over a series of early points to help ensure a 0-8 to 0-3 lead midway through the half.

With Gary Hanniffy a real handful at full forward, Birr were edging further and further ahead. Ballyboden tried to respond, but Brian Mullins's big-game experience told, the Offaly goalkeeper producing two excellent saves to deny Paul Ryan and Conal Keaney as Birr led 0-14 to 0-4 at half-time.

Despite David Curtin's two points after the break, Ballyboden's faint hopes were crushed when Stephen Browne fired a low shot beyond Gary Maguire with 10 minutes remaining.

The only downside for Birr were the injuries which forced the withdrawal of Brian Whelehan before the interval and his brother, Simon, in the final quarter.

BALLYBODEN ST ENDA'S : G Maguire; M Travers, S Perkins, J Duffy; T Sweeney, D Spain, S Lambert; S Durkin, S Hiney; D Sweeney, D Curtin (0-3, one free, two 65s), C Keaney (0-1), P Ryan (0-2, one free) , C McCormack, E Carroll. Subs : M O' Sullivan for Spain (HT), M Griffin (0-1) for D Sweeney (ht), D O' Connor (0-1) for C McCormack (39 mins), N McMorrow for Ryan (55 mins), M Nagle for Carroll (55 mins).

BIRR : B Mullins; J P O'Meara, N Claffey, M Verney; B Watkins, P Cleary, B Harding; R Hanniffy, Barry Whelehan; Dylan Hayden (0-2), Brian Whelahan (0-2), S Whelehan (0-6, three frees); S Ryan (0-2), G Hanniffy (0-3), B Lonergan (0-1). Subs: S Browne (1-1, one free) for Brian Whelehan (HT), P O'Meara for S Whelehan (51 mins), A Whelehan for R Hannify (60 mins).

Referee: D Murphy (Wexford).

[baz]

dickie murphy was a disgrace ,nothing new in that ,simon lucky with head injury that it wasnt worse , m.travers ( wexford ) shouldve got the line (murphy threw in the ball ) and boden no. 14 looked first then pulled head high on cleary ( he was very lucky to walk away from that ).yet to see an offaly team get fair play in that dump (parnell park )(the intimadation of supporters 2 years ago not forgotten ).pitty about injuries we would win leinster again ,alot better team than last year ,would beat anyone with that type of hurling .

[swiftpost]

I would have to agree with baz on the referee he gave boden everything, didnt think it was travers that hit simon whelahan but whoever it was should of got the line.Paul Cleary was hit off the ball twicw in the space of a minute by the same man black book then yellow,dont think offaly ref's would be that lenient!
Birr were very impressive but at the same time 1 has to say how poor boden were on the day, their manager has already lambasted the Dublin county board for the amount of games they have had to play in the last month. It stood to Birr that their county final was afew weks ago while the dublin final was only the week before.
No one really hurled bad for Birr,it was that sort of game,their work rate in the first half was super, even some of their elder statesmen!

St Martins should be a stiffer test, Birr are 1/3 with the bookies for this 1 and 20/1 for the club all-Ireland.

[birr are magic]

was at the match on saturday. birr played very well there wasnt two many supportes at it. we are on the go scince 1991.
and we will be there for the next 18 years. st. martins will be hard beat on sunday . but the boys will pull through .
they win it for sid. who was took out of it with dirt last saturday . as was simon . and a wild pull on paul cleary .only a yellow card .
we listen to a lot of talk from ballyboden last week about they should have won last year . well they got there answer saturday .
birrs back and dont forget it. only 60 mintues away from a ten lenster final . some record . so get out and shout for birr on sunday .